Day 13 - Thursday, May 24th - Grants to Albuquerque, NM

Distance: 78.6 miles

Elevation Gain: +1988 ft. or 25.3 ft./mile

Net elevation change: -1378 ft.

Click here to ride along !!

At 78 miles, today’s route was just short of the tour daily average of 80, and while we had an overall decrease in elevation, there was a climb at mile 58 of over 600 feet in five miles, about 120 feet per mile.  The ride can actually be broken down into three very different parts.  The first part went from the hotel to the first SAG stop at mile 31, all on Route 66, and where there was about a 600 foot drop in the elevation. The second leg of the ride went for 26 miles on I-40 and, while still descending, the road flattened out a bit and the crosswinds were more noticeable.  The last 21 miles was back on Route 66 which included the 600 foot climb, the descent into the traffic of Albuquerque, crossing the Rio Grande River, two flat changes and nursing a slow leak the last five miles to the hotel.  

With the starting temperature in the mid 40's under a clear blue sky and very light winds we started out on Route 66  on the north side of I-40, but seven miles in we crossed under and continued on the south side of I-40 and passed through Anzac Village, McCartys Village and the Santa Maria mission that are all part of the Acoma Pueblo.

Acoma Pueblo is a Native American Pueblo comprised of four villages: Sky City (Old Acoma), Acomita, Anzac and McCartys.  The Acoma Pueblo tribe has occupied this area continuously for over 800 years making it one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the US. Tribal traditions estimate that they have been here for more than 2000 years. The ancestral land of the Acoma Pueblo tribe was about 5 million acres. Today the tribe occupies only about 500,000 acres. It is thought that the first European contact with the Acoma was in 1540 with members of the Spanish expedition led by Francisco Vazquez Coronado. 

Some shots on the way out of town along Route 66 up to the the Santa Maria Mission

Gotta love the early morning blue sky!

It's not much, but it is water!!

The black lava rock in the foreground above is part of the McCarty's flow, the youngest volcanic eruption in New Mexico occurring between 2500 and 5000 years ago. The village of McCarty is named after a contractor who lived here during the construction of the Santa Fe railroad in the 1880's. It is also known as Santa Maria and is home to an old mission church built in the early 1900's that is an example of the Spanish Colonial style of architecture that is so prevalent in this part of New Mexico,
 

At mile 14 we crossed to the north side of  I-40 and continued onto Route 66 to the village of San Fidel. We reached the outskirts of Paraje and Casa Blanca at mile 25, followed by New Laguna and Laguna, all villages on the Laguna Pueblo Reservation.

San Fidel is a community of 140 people that is home to the Acoma Curio Shop which is listed on the Register of Historic Places. The Curio Shop was built in 1916 by a Lebanese immigrant by the name of Abdoo Fidel.  It started as a general store and also sold curios to tourists that were crafted at the Acoma Pueblo. Added to the Register of Historic Places in 2009, the building now houses an Art Gallery. I didn't see the curio shop but did get some shots of San Fidel.

Paraje is a Census designated Place (CDP) with a population of 777 and Casa Blanca is part of it. Laguna is a CDP with a population of 1241. It was founded in 1699 so it is the most recent of the New Mexican pueblos.

We saw a lot more evidence of ranching activities today.

This last one is a "cattle guard" and it runs across the road over a ditch.  The spaces between the rails are large enough that cattle, horses, sheep etc are discouraged from crossing. Cars have no problem handling them but on a bike you need to take it at a 90 degree angle as your steering could be severely compromised should your front wheel get caught in one of those spaces. If it is wet....walk your bike across. They are worse then railroad crossings.

Some more shots along Route 66 before the first of two rest stops.

Great road to ride on !!

There is a stone ruin in the picture

Out of no where, in the middle of no where, at mile 23 before we reach Paraje is this official historic marker commemorating the memory of the servicemen from New Mexico that died in battle or later from their wounds in the Battle of Khe Sanh in 1968 during the Viet Nam War. I'm sure for those in the community it is not anywhere near as random as it felt to me.

After the rest stop at mile 31 it is back on I-40 and we pass by Mesita, a village of about 800 people that was founded in 1870 by a group of Native Americans that split from the Laguna Pueblo people. The split had something to do with the increasing presence of Protestant Christianity with the arrival of the Baptists in the 1850's and the Presbyterians in the 1870's.

Some shots from along I-40 before we got to the next rest stop.

No zoom needed. It was right there !

Note to self. Don't shoot into the sun and clean the bleeping lens.

Took this while pedaling and didn't notice the X in the foreground. I could crop it out but now I'm wondering what it means. Treasure?

My favorite of the day.

It is astonishing how quickly the landscape changes. Lots of layers, but no red rock here

I saw this one and curiosity got the better of me. It is a non-contiguous section of the Navajo Nation that roughly translates to "dipping water". It was formed on the the Long Walk, during the forced relocation of the Navajo people in 1864.  People who settled here were often considered a renegade band who refused to go further. This part of New Mexico is known as the checkerboard and Navajo and  Pueblo share the land. Look at this area on google maps and you will see why it is called the checkerboard. This is conjecture on my part but I can't help feeling that this was intentional on the part of the US Government. Put open land between reservation land to make it harder for "Indians" to band together and cause trouble. 

The next sign of civilization comes at mile 57 in the form of the Route 66 Casino Hotel where we leave I-40  for our second rest stop.

One of the problems with riding on the shoulder of the interstate is all the debris that is there. This is especially true now as it hasn't rained so none of it has washed away.  You have all seen the pieces of truck tire strewn along the road side. When those tires break apart they send small pieces of very thin steel wire flying everywhere. This wire works its' way into a bike tire and doesn't cause a flat immediately since nearly all of us are using some sort of bike tire with a puncture resistant Kevlar layer. At every stop we inspect the tires and pull out the wire with tweezers. Unfortunately this isn't full proof and inevitably some wire works it's way through the Kevlar layer and a slow leak occurs.  Pulling into the rest stop I pulled out one wire from each tire. As I'm about to leave I notice the rear tire is flat. I'm thinking I'm lucky since the support van is here, I can get a tube from them and use a floor pump, without dipping into the tubes and CO2 cartridges we all carry for road repairs.  I leave the rest stop and get about 2 miles down the road and sure enough, the front tire is getting softer with every pedal stroke. I change the tube and make sure there is no wire coming through the inside of the tire. Satisfied I get on the way and shortly after completing the climb at mile 63, I start a very fun straight descent into Albuquerque.

About five miles from the hotel we cross the Rio Grande River and enter Old Town Albuquerque.  When I hear the words Rio Grand River I immediately think of the southern border between Texas and Mexico. I’m sure that somewhere in my past I probably had a geography class that taught me a bit more than that, but that knowledge is long gone. Thanks to the Wikipedia, I can remind myself that the Rio Grande starts in south central Colorado and flows through New Mexico and starting at El Paso, heads southeast form the border until it gets to the Gulf of Mexico some 1900 miles later.  The river’s watershed covers 182,000 square miles. Heavy water consumption and some diversion dams have reduced the water flow by 80%.

Shortly after taking this last picture I noticed the front tire is once again going soft. With less then five miles, I used a CO2 cartridge to refill it and limped to the hotel cursing the blasted wire remnants that are so small and hard to find. I spent another 20 minutes trying to find the wire....still couldn't find it. Frustrated, I changed the tube, pumped it up and hope for the best. Later, I took the bad tube filled it a bit and put it in a sink of water. Even a slow puncture leak is noticeable pretty quickly. No bubbles. I checked again going slower. Nothing from the tube, but wait, a lone bubble from the valve stem. I let it sit and, sure enough, one tiny air bubble every 3-5 seconds escapes. I really think the mystery is solved...and then again the tire could be flat in the morning.

Sneak Peek at Tomorrow

Riding 68 miles mostly to the north and east and climbing 4900 feet of climbing will get us to Santa Fe, New Mexico where we will have a rest day on Saturday.

Santa Fe is the state capital of New Mexico and with a population of about 84,000 is the fourth largest city in the state. The area has been occupied by Native Americans for several thousand years with known settlements in what is now downtown Santa Fe coming sometime after 900 AD. The present city was founded by Spanish colonists in 1610 and thus Santa Fe is the oldest city in the state and the oldest state capital in the US.  New Mexico became part of the US after the war with Mexico in 1848. Originally the railroads were going to come directly through Santa Fe but they ultimately didn’t. Spur lines were built but that couldn’t prevent the gradual decline of the city in the early 20^th century. In response, city officials promoted the area as a tourist destination since it was already attractive to artists and retirees, in part because of the outstanding landscapes and dry climate.  During WW II, a Japanese internment camp with military prison level security was established in Santa Fe that housed 800+ Japanese-American men despite no evidence and due process.